Pippin's Snowflake
by Mora Black
Summary: Is there a category for hobbit fluffiness? Anyway, this is a holiday story about Pippin. All he wants is to catch a snowflake and find Christmas presents for Frodo, Sam, and Merry. Prequest, no slash. VERY CUTE! Pleez R


Hi all you Pippin fans!  
  
My plot bunny went wacko and decided to stop writing angsty Frodo stories and switch to hobbit fluffiness. So it bit me and wouldn't let go until I had completed a cute story about Pippin before he went on the big ugly quest. Grab a mug of hot chocolate and a cookie or two. Maybe even a candy cane if you have it. Then read this. And don't forget to review! That would be the best Christmas gift ever!  
  
Dedicated to my best friend. Go read her stories, her username is Leaviel. (Merry Christmas, Leaviel)  
  
Pippin's Snowflake  
  
Sugary flakes of snow began to fall from the gray and clouded sky. Pippin stuck his tongue out in hopes of catching one of the frozen crystals on it.  
  
"Cousin, what in middle earth are you doing?" Merry looked at Pippin quizzically.  
  
"I'm thying tho eath a shnowfhlake!" Pippin said with his tongue still sticking out.  
  
Merry laughed, "It's not going to happen. You might as well try to catch one."  
  
Pippin pulled his tongue back in and pouted. "You're no fun. Why can't you be happy during Christmas? Everyone else is!"  
  
"It's not Christmas yet. If you really want to know, I'm upset that it's begun to snow. If it keeps up, we'll have a harder time reaching Hobbiton before dinner." Merry flicked the reins.  
  
The pony snorted and his breath clouded in the cold air. Pippin felt himself growing sleepy, so he snuggled up next to Merry and pulled the blanket around himself tighter. Merry looked down at Pippin's green eyes poking out of the scarf he was wearing over his mouth and nose.  
  
"How much longer, Merry?"  
  
"Till what?" Merry asked.  
  
"Till we get to Bag End?" Pippin replied sleepily. He yawned.  
  
"Not much longer. It'll be about another hour."  
Pippin closed his eyes and listened to the rhythmic crunch of Buttons' hooves on the newly fallen snow. Buttons was Merry's father's pony, but he had lent Buttons to Merry and Pippin for their journey to Frodo in Bag End to spend the holidays.  
  
After an hour and a half, the wagon arrived at Frodo's hobbit hole. It was called Bag End by the folk who lived in the quaint country of the Shire. Frodo was a distant cousin of Merry and Pippin, and a great friend. Sam, Frodo's gardener and a frequent visitor of Bag End, lived down the road.  
  
Currently, Sam was in a large woolen jacket, pulling weeds in the front garden of Bag End. The jacket was probably one of Frodo's old ones. Sam also wore a pair of green mittens on his hands and a red knitted cap over his curly golden hair. He had no scarf, so his breath steamed and his nose was very red.  
  
"Shouldn't you be inside, Sam?" Merry called from the sleigh as he tried to get up gently, as not to disturb the sleeping form of Pippin who leaned on his left shoulder. "Today is no day to be gardening! It's too cold!"  
  
Despite Merry's efforts, Pippin woke up and began to rub his eyes. "Are we there yet?" He yawned and stretched.  
  
"Yes, could you get out and help me unpack, you sleepyhead?" Merry asked. Sam, hearing Merry's request, grabbed one of the two suitcases and proceeded to drag it up the steps when Merry intervened.  
  
"You've already been out here long enough. You go inside and put a pot of tea on and we'll bring this up. Won't we, Pippin?" Merry said, nudging Pippin. "Huh? Okay," Pippin said sleepily.  
  
Sam put the suitcase on the front step and stepped inside.  
  
"You're faking it. You're wide awake and I know it," Merry pulled his ear playfully.  
  
"Ow! Okay, I'm awake," Pippin laughed.  
  
"I knew you were awake. Nobody can be sleepy when they know there's a tree to be found and decorated!" Merry hauled the heavier of the two suitcases out from the back of the wagon. "Sam left the other one on the step there." Merry pointed to the brown bag on the ground.  
  
"Oh, all right!" Pippin said with mock disappointment. He hated carrying baggage. "Last one inside gets cold tea!" Pippin raced up the steps.  
  
With a burst of laughter, Merry gave chase. "Not fair! You have the lighter bag!"  
  
"Then you had better catch me!" Pippin opened the green circular door and stepped in. He stopped and inhaled the musty smell of Bag End. He was just about to deposit the suitcase in the guest room when Merry crashed into him from behind. "Woah!" Merry and Pippin cried aloud in unison as they both fell down in a tangled heap.  
  
"What's that?" Frodo walked into the hall from the kitchen and found Merry and Pippin untangling themselves on the floor.  
  
"Oh, Pippin! You shouldn't have stopped right in front of the door," Merry moaned, rubbing his knee.  
  
"Me! You should have looked where you were going!" Pippin returned to sucking his thumb that Merry had stepped on.  
  
Frodo laughed. "Both of you come inside. I'll take your bags. Now go sit down and have a cup of tea." He picked up the suitcases and carried them both to the guest room across the hall.  
  
Merry and Pippin, who were both starving, peeled off their coats, hung them on the coat racks in the hall, dashed to the kitchen, and sat down. Sam was serving them tea just as Frodo walked in.  
  
"My goodness, Merry! What did you pack, bricks?" Frodo laughed.  
  
Merry drained his cup of tea and said, "Good guess, but they're presents for you all. After we get the tree, I can put them underneath it."  
  
Pippin cast his eyes down. "I don't have any presents for you."  
  
"That's okay! You being here is a present enough!" Frodo sipped his tea.  
  
Pippin wasn't convinced. "But I want to give you something that you can have on Christmas," Pippin insisted.  
  
"You'll think of something. If I know one thing about you, Pippin, I know that you'll never give up at anything." Merry said.  
  
"Speaking of which, would you care for a rematch of that race, Merry?" Pippin looked at Merry with a gleam in his eye.  
  
"I think we should find a tree first, before it gets dark, so we can be sure that we have one, Master Pippin," Sam said.  
  
Frodo smiled and finished his tea. "I think Sam's right. Let's go find a tree!"  
  
Within the hour, the four hobbits had hitched Buttons up to Frodo's sleigh, and the foursome were happily singing carols as they drove to the forest nearby. Merry drove the pony while Frodo, Sam, and Pippin bundled up in Frodo's quilts next to him. When they arrived at the edge of the forest, Pippin was the first to jump out of the sleigh. Merry climbed out next and held a shiny red apple out for Buttons.  
  
"Pippin! What are you doing?" Frodo asked with a laugh as he hopped out. Sam followed suit.  
  
Pippin had tipped his head up to the sky and was sticking his tongue out to catch snowflakes again. The ground was covered with four inches of snow already, and the once-constant snowfall was beginning to relent.  
  
Merry walked up next to Frodo and muttered, "He's trying to catch a snowflake."  
Pippin looked back down again and frowned. "I'll never catch a snowflake."  
  
Frodo's face lit up as it always did when he had an idea. "Pippin, if you want, I can teach you how to hold a snowflake in your hand."  
  
"You can?" Pippin gasped with disbelief.  
  
"Yes, but we have to pick out a tree first. I'll show you at home." Frodo said, smirking.  
  
"Look Merry! Do you see it?" Pippin pointed to a tree a little way into the forest.  
  
"Good find, Pippin. It's perfect," Merry said with delight.  
  
"What? What is it?" Frodo squinted and tried to look where Pippin had been pointing.  
  
"Over there! It's the perfect Christmas tree!" Pippin pointed again and Frodo saw it.  
  
"Indeed you're right, Master Pippin. I'll get the hatchet." Sam walked back to the sleigh and retrieved the small axe.  
  
"Here's the rematch you wanted, Pippin!" Merry cried, "On your mark, get set, HEY!"  
  
Pippin had burst out running before Merry said go.  
  
"Pippin! You cheated!" Merry raced after Pippin.  
  
Pippin shouted over his shoulder as he ran, "How else am I supposed to win? You always beat me!" He tagged the tree and stood waiting for Merry to come puffing up behind. Frodo and Sam drove the sleigh over.  
  
"We'll have to have another rematch. You cheated," Merry said between pants.  
  
"But you always win! Why can't I win for once?" Pippin was on the verge of tears.  
"I never said that I would win the next rematch. I said we would play the next one fairly so whoever wins can win fair and square. It could be you," Merry explained.  
  
Pippin's face softened, and Merry gave him a gentle hug.  
Sam brushed the snow away from the trunk of the fir tree that stood two feet taller than Merry, who was the tallest, and placed the blade of the axe on the bark. He swung back and brought the blade down with a sharp, cracking noise.  
  
"Good one, Sam!" Frodo complimented.  
  
Sam swung again. In seven more strokes, the tree had fallen on its side. Merry and Frodo hoisted the tree up while Pippin placed his wooden sled under the tree and let Sam tie it on with a rope. When the four were satisfied with their accomplishment, they all climbed into the sleigh and rode away, laughing and singing carols.  
  
When they arrived back to Bag End, everyone hopped out of the sleigh. Sam unhitched Buttons and led him to the small stable. Frodo and Merry picked up the tree and brought it into the house while Pippin returned his sled to the shed on the south side of Bag End.  
  
The group, now thoroughly cold, gathered in the kitchen after peeling off outer layers of coats, hats, mittens, and scarves. Sam had been finished first and had put the kettle on the fire to boil water. They chatted excitedly until the kettle sang. Sam poured tea for each of them, and after two cups each, they left the kitchen to admire their new tree that Frodo and Merry had set up in the sitting room.  
  
"I'll need some help bringing the ornaments out from storage," Frodo said, meaning that he wanted the others to help him carry the boxes of decorations in to the room.  
  
Merry, Sam, and Pippin followed Frodo as he led the way to the storage rooms. He pulled a iron key ring with many keys on it out of his pocket and selected the correct one. He inserted the key into the keyhole and turned. The door's lock released with a soft click, and Frodo pushed the door open. The old, wooden door whined on its hinges as it swung open.  
  
Inside, a fine layer of dust coated everything like a blanket. Merry sneezed several times, but was adamant in continuing the job of bringing out the various boxes of ornaments for the tree.  
  
Pippin was given the smallest box to carry, but his fingers were too small to hold the seemingly large and heavy box, and he dropped it on the way to the tree. The wooden crate was very old and brittle. It splintered into many pieces and sent the glass bulbs sprawling across the floor. Pippin's lip puckered, and he bit it to keep it from trembling. Tears trickled down his cheeks.  
  
"Oh, Pippin! It's okay! Bilbo had way too many of these." Frodo looked down at the fragments of ornaments on the ground.  
  
"But...but I broke them!" Pippin stammered.  
  
"We have to clean them up before we do anything else or someone might cut themselves." Frodo threw the broken pieces of wood on the fire, retrieved the broom from the kitchen, and swept the broken glass pieces into a fabric bag. "Pippin, would you please put these in the garbage pail in the kitchen?" Frodo handed the bag of glass fragments to Pippin.  
  
Pippin took the bag with his left hand and wiped his eyes on his right sleeve. He sniffed and walked to the kitchen. "Gosh, these must have been beautiful when they were whole," he thought. "If only I could put them back together." He was just about to overturn the bag and dump the contents into the kitchen garbage pail when he had an idea.  
  
Quickly and quietly, Pippin walked into the hall. He crept to the door to the sitting room. Slowly, he peered through the doorway. Frodo had his back to the door and was stoking the fire to rekindle it after having added the pieces of the broken crate. Pippin tiptoed across the hall to the guest bedroom he was sharing with Merry and wrapped the bag in a shirt and stuffed it gently into his suitcase. He tiptoed back to the kitchen and then walked back to the sitting room.  
  
As soon as Pippin walked in, Merry and Sam came in with the last of the boxes. The next two hours were spent sorting the ornaments. Sam kept the tea kettle on the fire for refills of peppermint tea when it was needed. The prettiest and newest ones were put on the tree, while the oldest ones were thrown away and the rest were packed back up in the boxes.  
  
Pippin began to glance around furtively. "Frodo, you don't have an topper to put on the top of the tree, do you? Back at Brandy Hall they had an angel to put on their tree every year. I could never see her properly because the tree was so tall, but even from a distance, she looked beautiful."  
  
Frodo blushed. "Um, no, I don't have one. I used to have a golden star, but when I tried to put it up last year, I dropped it and it broke. I forgot to buy something to replace it this year. It's too late to go look for one now. We'll have to do without."  
  
"Even if we could go find something right now, I wouldn't want to go out in this weather," Sam said.  
  
Pippin looked down at his bare, furry feet sadly. "It just won't be the same," he muttered to his toes. Then he had an idea, but he kept it secret. "I'll just save that idea for later," he thought to himself.  
  
Merry stepped up to the tree and hung the last ornament up. "We're done," he sighed.  
  
"Not yet!" Frodo pulled two small boxes out of the piles of unused ornaments. He opened them and painstakingly arranged the two sets of six yellow candles on the tree. He carefully grabbed a slow-burning stick from the fire and handed it to Pippin. "You're supposed to light the candles, Pippin. Tradition says that the one who found the tree is the one who lights them."  
  
Frodo blew out the lamps and candles around the room and picked Pippin up gently. Pippin lit the candles at the top. When he was finished, Frodo brought him down lower and helped him light all the other candles on the small tree. When they were all flickering gently, Frodo put Pippin back down on the floor. Pippin blew out the stick triumphantly and everyone clapped. Pippin bowed and almost fell over, but righted himself and put the stick back in the fireplace.  
  
Merry and Frodo retreated to their rooms and retrieved three boxes wrapped with very colorful paper. They placed them under the tree. Each gift had a tag on it that specified who it was for. Sam went to the hall to retrieve his gifts from the bench he had placed them on for safe-keeping until the tree was ready to shelter his packages.  
  
When Merry, Sam, and Frodo were done laying their gifts on the floor beneath the lowest boughs of the evergreen tree, all four hobbits stepped back. They all were silent for a few minutes while each studied their work.  
  
"Pippin, I do declare that in all of my memory, Bag End has never seen a finer tree. No offense to Bilbo's decorating, but his trees always looked overstuffed and antique. Bilbo almost always had to trim off the top of the tree so it would fit in the room standing up."  
  
Pippin blushed, but in the dim light from the twelve small candles, no one noticed.  
Sam served them all a final round of tea, and when most of them were finished sipping it quietly and looking at the tree, Frodo stood up.  
  
"Are you ready to learn how to catch a snowflake now, Pippin?"  
  
Pippin drained his tea in a quick gulp before he replied. "Oh, yes!"  
  
Frodo smiled at his younger cousin's enthusiasm. "Then follow me!" Frodo strode to the study and walked in. He left the door ajar, but told Pippin to wait for him in the hall.  
  
Frodo came out with his arms full with two pairs of scissors stacked on top of several sheets of white parchment.  
  
"What are we going to use those for?" Pippin asked, fully puzzled by Frodo's actions.  
  
"Be patient," Frodo chuckled.  
  
He marched, with Pippin in tow, back to the sitting room where Sam and Merry had settled down in chairs and were reading books. Merry was reading Bilbo's story of his travels, and Sam was reading a book of elvish lore that he had already read several times over. Frodo set the parchment and scissors on the coffee table, sat down on the couch, and dragged the coffee table closer to him. Pippin sat down next to him.  
  
"Now what? Aren't we going to go outside?" Pippin was, by now, extremely confused.  
  
"No, silly! We are going to make snowflakes," Frodo said as he was folding a piece of parchment over to make a square. He trimmed off the excess parchment so that he held a single isosceles triangle. "This is how you start."  
  
Pippin stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth as he usually did when he was in deep concentration. He tried his best to fold the slightly yellow parchment over to make a triangle like Frodo did. His didn't turn out as good as Frodo's, but Pippin didn't mind.  
  
"Next, you fold the triangle over to make another smaller triangle." Frodo demonstrated this step to Pippin and Pippin copied it.  
"Okay, now do it again," Frodo instructed.  
  
Pippin folded his triangle again.  
  
"This next step is a bit trickier, but you can do it." Frodo smiled at Pippin. "Fold the folded edge of the triangle to the longest side. It should look like a cone."  
  
Pippin stared at Frodo. "I don't get it," he said. "Can you do it for me, please?"  
  
Frodo smirked slightly before taking Pippin's triangle and saying, "Sure, Pip."  
  
"Thank you, Frodo." Pippin smiled.  
  
Frodo carefully folded Pippin's progressing snowflake and handed it back to him. "Now comes the second best part."  
  
Pippin looked at Frodo. "Well, what's the best part then?"  
  
"Opening it," explained Frodo.  
  
"Oh!" Pippin exclaimed.  
  
"Take the scissors and cut off the extra triangle at the top of the cone. Then you can start cutting the design. You can cut it just about anywhere, but you have to be careful not to cut all the way through the snowflake, or then it won't work," Frodo instructed.  
  
Pippin painstakingly cut shapes out of the small folded parchment. When there was no more room to cut anything else, he showed it to Frodo. "What do I do now?"  
  
Frodo cut the final piece off his snowflake. "Now, you carefully open the folds. Be careful so you don't rip it."  
  
Both hobbits opened their snowflakes. Frodo's was very delicate and beautiful; he had cut several beautiful shapes out of his, making it look quite intricate. Pippin's was stockier and a bit unsymmetrical, but still looked pretty.  
  
Pippin gasped at the beauty in his creation. "Wow! It's so beautiful!"  
  
"You can have mine." Frodo handed his snowflake to Pippin and stood up to take his scissors back to the study.  
  
"Really? Thanks, Frodo!" Pippin began to make another snowflake.  
  
Frodo returned the scissors and came back. He sat on the couch next to Pippin and opened his book. It was a book of stories that had been translated from elvish by his uncle Bilbo.  
Pippin finished folding the triangle and was finding difficulty the next step. He became flustered. "Frodo, how do you do the next step again?" Pippin whined. "I can't do it!"  
  
Frodo marked the page he was on and put the book down. "Here, I'll show you." Frodo expertly folded the triangle into a cone with Pippin looking on over his shoulder. "There, do you know how to do it now?" Frodo looked at Pippin gently.  
  
Pippin nodded. "Thank you, Frodo."  
  
Frodo resumed to his book and smiled to himself.  
  
The only sound for the next hour was the turning of pages from Sam, Merry, and Frodo as they read their books, the snapping of the small fire, and the snipping of scissors and the rustling of parchment as Pippin made snowflakes. When the hour was over, the clock on the mantle chimed nine times and Frodo closed his book.  
  
Frodo stretched. "Is it nine o'clock already?" he asked the clock, stifling a yawn.  
  
The fire had died down to red coals twenty minutes ago and Sam had not gone to stoke them when he realized that it was growing late.  
  
Pippin finished cutting his fifteenth snowflake and opened it. The rug at his feet was covered with small pieces of white parchment.  
  
"Pip, we'll have to clean these up before we go to bed," Frodo said.  
  
Pippin began to pick up the small scraps of parchment on the floor and put them on a full sheet of parchment to serve as a tray. Frodo helped him.  
  
Merry put the empty boxes that held ornaments into the crates and packed the unused ornaments into another crate. "Pippin and I will bring these back to Brandy Hall when we return home." Merry carried the crate into the guest room and then came back.  
  
Sam put his book and Merry's back in the bookcase behind the couch. "I'd better go home now, Mr. Frodo. Good night!"  
  
"See you tomorrow, Sam!" Frodo called as Sam stepped out the door.  
  
Pippin dumped the scraps from his snowflakes into the fireplace. He rubbed his eyes. "I don't want to go to bed." Pippin yawned, "I'm not tired."  
  
"But you must rest so you can gather energy for our re-rematch tomorrow," Merry said as he ushered Pippin to their room.  
  
"Okay," Pippin admitted drowsily.  
  
He and Merry changed into their nightgowns in silence. Pippin was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, and soon he was dreaming of broken ornaments, angel tree-toppers, gifts, snowflakes, candles, and re- rematches.  
  
The next morning Pippin woke up and stumbled into the kitchen where everyone else was eating breakfast.  
  
"Sleepyhead," Merry said through a mouthful of mushroom omelette.  
  
Pippin stuck his tongue out at Merry and then asked, "Is there any left for me?"  
  
"Sure," Frodo pointed with his fork to a plate at an empty seat across from him and then resumed eating.  
  
Pippin sat down and began to eat the omelette, sausage, bacon, and tomatoes with glee.  
  
Merry swallowed the last of his milk and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "Pippin, I've decided, with Frodo's help, that our re-rematch will a contest of sledding. There is an excellent hill that Frodo knows of, and it sounds perfect. Since our weight is different, you may pack three stones of your choice on the back of your sled."  
  
Pippin was excited. "Who will be the judge?" he asked, hoping that there would be one.  
  
"Why, Frodo, of course!" Merry exclaimed.  
  
Pippin finished the last of his breakfast, put his dishes in the washbasin, and rushed off to his room to dress. Merry followed him.  
  
Once all four hobbits were bundled in their coats, hats, mittens, and scarves, Merry and Pippin retrieved their sleds from the wagon, and Frodo led them to the hill. Sam stayed behind to prepare the garden for the harsh winter ahead. The snow had melted enough for him to do so, and he had been lax in his preparations.  
  
Pippin packed three of the biggest boulders he could find on his sled and sat down next to Merry at the top of the hill.  
  
Frodo drew a "finish line" at the bottom of the hill and stood to the side of it. "On your mark," Pippin situated himself on the sled. "get set, GO!" Frodo shouted.  
  
Pippin lurched forward and set himself gliding down the long hill. He leaned this way and that to avoid the rocks and bushes that protruded from the thin layer of snow. Merry was a few inches behind him. Pippin leaned back farther to decrease his air resistance and increase his speed. Pippin cleared the finish line with Merry three feet behind him.  
  
Pippin jumped off the sled. "I beat you! I beat you! I beat you fair and square!" he shouted.  
  
Merry ran up to him and hugged him. "And I thought I would have to let you win! I figured after that great start you had, you wouldn't need it! You were awesome, Pippin!"  
  
While Merry was congratulating Pippin, Frodo gathered some snow into his hands and mushed it together. He squinted an eye and drew his hand back. After aiming carefully, he let the snowball fly. It struck Merry on the back of the head, causing him to jump.  
  
Frodo laughed. "Here's another one!" Frodo threw another snowball at Pippin, but Pippin dodged it just in time.  
  
Merry, while Frodo was throwing the snowball at Pippin, had gathered a snowball and had thrown it at Frodo. It hit Frodo in the chest.  
  
"Alright! This is war!" Frodo shouted playfully. He began to chuck snowballs at Pippin and Merry, but two against one was obviously unfair, so Frodo began to try and dodge Merry and Pippin's snowballs while throwing at the two of them instead of staying in one place. After an hour of the snowball fight, they all began to feel tired and cold. They proposed a "truce" until the next day and retreated inside for some hot tea and a nap.  
  
As soon as Merry had fallen asleep, Pippin crept to the kitchen with the bag of broken ornaments. Sam was still working outside in the garden, and would be for another hour or so. Pippin had all the time in the world. He retrieved a bowl from the cupboard and poured a half of a cup of flour, a cup of water, and a quarter of a cup of sugar in. He mixed it with a wooden spoon and put it on the table. Using a large, old rag as a tablecloth, he poured out the broken ornaments on the table. He sorted the pieces by color and began working. Using the sugar, flour, and water mix as glue, he pasted the fragments together. Pippin made a star ornament for Merry, a star ornament for Sam, and an angel tree-topper for Frodo. He threw the rest of the broken ornaments away and washed out the dirty bowl. He returned the rag and bowl back to their proper places.  
  
When he was done cleaning up, Pippin grabbed three of the boxes that once held the ornaments that had been thrown away. He wrapped the delicate gifts in napkins that Frodo wouldn't miss and put them in the boxes. Then he wrapped the boxes in some colorful paper that he had found in the broom closet. He attached a label to each of the packages and put them under the tree. Just then, Sam walked in.  
"I thought you and Mr. Frodo and Mr. Merry were taking a nap," Sam said as he stoked the fire in the kitchen hearth and put the tea kettle on the rack above it.  
  
"Um, I was, but I woke up because I was hungry," Pippin stuttered.  
  
Sam glanced at the clock near the window. "No wonder. It's past tea time." Pippin gazed at the snow that had gathered on the windowpanes. "I'll go get Mr. Merry and Mr. Frodo. They are probably hungry. It's about time for them to wake up, or they won't sleep a wink tonight. And we can't have that, not with all these re-rematches the lot of you are having." Sam smiled and exited the kitchen. Pippin listened to his footfalls as they echoed along the hall. In a few minutes, two very sleepy hobbits had trudged to the kitchen with promises of tea and cakes.  
As the late meal progressed, the two hobbits woke up and shook off the sleepiness that had followed them from their beds. This made Pippin all the happier, but the sky was beginning to darken. Unfortunately, that meant that going outside for one last time before dinner was out of the question, so the rest of the night was spent reading books.  
  
Two weeks passed. Merry and Pippin held several re-rematches, of which Pippin won twenty-seven, and Merry won sixteen. Sam joined Frodo for the snowball fights that they held each day without fail.  
  
One late afternoon on Christmas Eve, it began to snow very hard. The sky was growing dark earlier than usual, and again, the four hobbits' option of outdoor games was taken away.  
  
As a compensation for this, Merry suggested a "friendly" game of riddles, inspired by the legendary hobby of Bilbo. Bilbo had departed on an adventure some few years ago with Gandalf, the wizard, and played a game of riddles with a slimy creature named Gollum. By doing this, Bilbo was able to escape from the tunnels of the Goblin City that existed under a mountain where he had been lost.  
  
Everyone agreed to this, so they all went and gathered in the sitting room.  
  
Frodo noticed that there were three new packages under the tree that had been wrapped with his wrapping paper. "Well, Pippin, it looks as though you have found something you could give us, even though we didn't want it. How kind of you."  
  
Pippin blushed slightly. "Yes, I'm sorry I used your wrapping paper, though."  
  
Frodo chuckled. "That's alright. I was trying to find a way to use it up anyway; I didn't need it anymore because I had already wrapped my gifts and didn't want to waste it by throwing it away."  
  
Pippin felt better after that. It was Christmas Eve, after all. As he had said to Merry the day they came to Bag End, "Why can't you be happy during Christmas? Everyone else is!" Everyone in the room was smiling when Frodo began the riddles.  
  
"Ever white, Glowing bright In the night To my delight."  
  
Merry found this one to be fairly simple. "Stars," he said.  
  
"I was just about to say that," Pippin said.  
  
Frodo smiled. "Merry's turn."  
  
"The sweetest nectar, The earth can provide. I only wish The effects would subside."  
  
Pippin gasped. "How predictable, Merry! Ale, of course, is the answer!"  
  
"Sticklebacks! I knew you would figure that one out, Pip," Merry said with obviously fake disappointment.  
  
"I need a really hard one," Pippin mused. "Aha!"  
  
"Made with something broken, Yet this thing is whole. Made by yours truly With my heart and soul. You don't know it now. Its identity I won't convey. You'll find out tomorrow, When you open it on Christmas Day."  
  
"Oh, Pippin! That's not fair! Give us one we can figure out tonight!" Merry whined.  
  
Pippin sighed, "Alright, here's another one."  
  
"I come from high up Where the air is cold. I am made of silver And not of gold. I am spun in the sky And imitated by a few. All you need is parchment and scissors, And you can make me, too."  
  
"Snowflakes," Frodo said from his spot on the couch next to Sam. "But whatever did you mean by your first riddle? Is it a hint about your gift for one of us?"  
  
"Yes, it was a hint, but the riddle could apply to all of my gifts for you," Pippin said mysteriously.  
  
Merry sighed, "Well, that will give me something to ponder while I am dropping off to sleep."  
  
The clock on the mantle chimed the hour of nine o'clock, and the three hobbits trudged off to bed. Sam left to go home. The last one out of the room was Pippin, who gave one last look at the beautiful tree before following Merry to bed.  
  
The next morning, the smells of breakfast woke the three sleeping hobbits. Sam was cooking breakfast in the kitchen. He had been making blueberry muffins as a special treat for them. Because of his good planning, Merry, Frodo, and Pippin trudged into the kitchen dressed in their nightgowns and bathrobes just as Sam was pulling three dozen beautiful muffins from the oven. He figured that since Pippin, and especially Merry, were here, he would need a lot more muffins than usual. Merry was well known for his large appetite.  
  
Sam was right in his figuring. Merry ate twelve whole blueberry muffins and Pippin ate ten. Frodo and Sam each had seven. After breakfast was finished, all four hobbits dashed off to the sitting room to open their gifts.  
  
"Who wants to go first?" Frodo asked.  
  
"I do! Let the youngest go first!" Pippin jumped up and down a few times to prove his enthusiasm.  
  
"Alright! Alright! Go take one!" Frodo laughed.  
  
Pippin dashed to the tree and grabbed a box. It was wrapped in silver paper with green trees on it. The label was addressed to Frodo. "Here, it's from me." Pippin gently handed the package to Frodo.  
  
Frodo brought the package to the couch and sat down before opening it. While he was gently removing the wrapping, Pippin and Merry sat down in the comfy armchairs. Sam seated himself next to Frodo on the couch. Once the wrapping was off, Frodo rolled it into a ball and put it in the fire Sam had started before cooking breakfast. Frodo carefully lifted the top of the box off and gasped. "Pippin, did you make this?"  
  
Frodo was stunned. Neatly wrapped in one of his own napkins lay a beautiful angel made of colored glass fragments. Frodo suddenly realized, much to his amusement, that the glass fragments were the ornaments that Pippin had broken when they were decorating the tree.  
  
Frodo took the angel out of the box and pulled a footstool to the base of tree. He stepped up onto it and placed the glass angel at the top of the tree, where she sparkled in the light of the candles. Merry and Sam gazed in astonishment at the beautiful tree-topper.  
  
"Thank you! She's beautiful!" Frodo paused. "So that's what you meant in your riddle, Pippin." Frodo looked at Pippin with a smile. He chuckled. "Well, now it's my turn to give something."  
  
Frodo went to the tree and bent over. He found the package he had addressed to Sam and pulled it out. Sam opened it to find that Frodo had given him a very fancy overcoat. Sam blushed, remembering all the times he had asked Frodo if he could borrow a jacket so he could tend the garden without catching a cold.  
  
Sam, still blushing, retrieved one of his packages from under the tree and handed it to Merry. Merry opened it to find a book about the brewing of wine, a favorite subject of Merry's. "Thank you, Sam!" Merry flipped through a few of the pages, enjoying the extremely detailed pictures of the many varieties of grapes and how to grow and ferment them best.  
  
This routine continued for another hour and a half. By the end of the gift giving, Frodo had been given the angel from Pippin, a book about dragons from Sam, and a bottle of Buckland's best ale from Merry. Pippin received a book about growing crops from Sam, a green scarf from Frodo, and a small jug of hard cider from Merry. Sam's presents were the overcoat from Frodo, a scarf from Merry, and a star-shaped ornament from Pippin. A yellow scarf from Frodo, the book about wine from Sam, and an ornament from Pippin were all given to Merry.  
  
By now, all four hobbits were feeling extremely warm-hearted and generous. Pippin was hiccuping a little because he had already consumed half of his hard cider, but he still felt as though he had just experienced the best Christmas of his life.  
  
"Let's all go outside," Merry suggested.  
  
Frodo nodded. "How absurd! We're all in our nightclothes!"  
  
"Who will see? Everyone else is inside," Merry countered.  
  
Frodo finally gave in. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to go outside for a little while."  
  
Pippin was the first out the door. As soon as he stepped out, it began to snow lightly. For the final time, Pippin stuck out his tongue. A snowflake landed on his tongue and melted away, but he could not deny that he had tasted one. "Merry! Merry! I ate a snowflake!" he cried.  
  
"No, you didn't. That cider must have gone to your head. You drank half of it," Merry said, denying the fact that a snowflake would just happen to land on Pippin's tongue.  
  
"Whatever you say, but it tasted exactly how I had imagined it," Pippin said, knowing that the mention of a snowflake's taste would make Merry interested.  
  
Merry fought with himself not to ask it, but his more curious side won. "What did it taste like?"  
  
Pippin thought for a moment, then said, "It tasted like Christmas." He smiled to himself, and then opened his mouth wide to catch more of the falling flakes of ice.  
  
If you love Pippin (and even if you don't) there's a little blue button down there that this author would like you to press! Thanx and happy holidays! 


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